Svetlost + Odron Ritual Orchestra: A Wave Returns to the Ocean

South-Eastern Europe isn't a place jazz fans often consider. It's time to change old habits. Svetlost, one of the finest North Macedonian trio, debuted in 2014, and in late 2021 returns with a second collaborative album, recorded at the Skopje Jazz Festival in 2020.

A Wave Returns to the Ocean steps in with ambient/field recording soundscape. This should not come as any surprise. Since the beginning, the band has regularly explored minimalistic electronic passages. Gradually, electronic gives way to lushy and a little sorrowful clarinet but only for a while. Drums and reeds accelerate the tempo to allegro and the mood from contemplative to rebellious. But it's only a beginning of the powerful and multilayered music narrative, created by North Macedonian crew.

Kristijan Novkovski, Deni Omeragic and Ninoslav Spirovski are prone to long compositions. Nevertheless, nobody can accuse them of creating wishy-washy music. They combine different genres and traditions from classical music to various styles of jazz, and from South Eastern European folk scales to rock or even pop music details.

So A Wave Returns to the Ocean is an eclectic record in a good way. Well-knitted and harmonious compositions bring colorful melodies while opening an immense space for the reeds section and muscular drumming—there are two drummers, which makes the sound much heavier. However, fans of polyrhythmics may be a little disappointed with the rather predictable and standard drumming.

Comments